Author Topic: reselling ps4  (Read 8602 times)

dafoe1999

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reselling ps4
« on: December 08, 2013, 10:44:11 PM »
Is anybody reselling ps4's to make extra funds?

gimp

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #1 on: December 09, 2013, 09:42:36 AM »
Don't gamble what you can't afford to lose. If you can afford to lose money, then go ahead and do it. People seem to be selling them on craigslist, ebay, whatever.

Cinder

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #2 on: December 09, 2013, 09:57:42 AM »
I have a friend who works at amazon.  He gets a 10% employee discount when he buys a ps4 though amazon:  His chase freedom card is giving him 5% cash back on amazon purchases though December.  At the time he told me this, they were selling for $200 over retail on ebay. 

At that point, it is defiantly worth it, even selling it at retail later would be a slight gain. 

twbird18

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #3 on: December 09, 2013, 01:19:11 PM »
We are watching ebay sells. If they go past $700 before Christmas we will sell ours since the game that my husband bought it to play was delayed, there is little downside to rebuying in the spring & making a few dollars. Less than that prices doesn't seem worth our time/effort with fees and shipping.

_JT

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #4 on: December 09, 2013, 01:34:25 PM »
I have a friend who works at amazon.  He gets a 10% employee discount when he buys a ps4 though amazon:  His chase freedom card is giving him 5% cash back on amazon purchases though December.  At the time he told me this, they were selling for $200 over retail on ebay. 

At that point, it is defiantly worth it, even selling it at retail later would be a slight gain.

I have a few friends who work for amazon (corporate, in Seattle), and they'd both tell your friend that he's putting his job at risk by doing that, I suspect.

gimp

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #5 on: December 09, 2013, 01:43:54 PM »
I have a friend who works at amazon.  He gets a 10% employee discount when he buys a ps4 though amazon:  His chase freedom card is giving him 5% cash back on amazon purchases though December.  At the time he told me this, they were selling for $200 over retail on ebay. 

At that point, it is defiantly worth it, even selling it at retail later would be a slight gain.

I have a few friends who work for amazon (corporate, in Seattle), and they'd both tell your friend that he's putting his job at risk by doing that, I suspect.

For sure. I get access to 50+ percent off CPUs, but I'd never buy one to resell for profit. Why would I want to lose my job for $150?

Zikoris

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #6 on: December 09, 2013, 09:06:17 PM »
My boyfriend and I bought 3 PS4s and one XBox One to resell, and made a decent profit.

There's actually no risk of losing money, despite what people here are saying - if you can't sell them for a profit, just return them to the store you bought them at and get a full refund.

arebelspy

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #7 on: December 10, 2013, 07:53:12 AM »
I bought an iPad mini* at Wal Mart* on Black Friday* for myself.

I decided to snag a second one, since I was waiting in line anyways.  My extra time above and beyond to resell it earned me about $80/hr.

Not something I'd go out of my way to do (as in OP's post) because I'm not that motivated to earn little bits of money anymore, but it was something I've done recently.

Of course, back in college I made lots of monies reselling things on eBay, and I occasionally make money when I do Craigslist transactions and get into the feel of what certain goods (such as motorcycles) should cost.  Generally though I don't bother anymore, for the same reason I don't bother with low interest credit card transfers to make money on the spread - the small profit isn't worth the hassle.

If it is worth it to you though (perhaps you are in some sort of debt emergency), by all means, go for it!

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GuitarStv

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #8 on: December 10, 2013, 12:50:16 PM »
My boyfriend and I bought 3 PS4s and one XBox One to resell, and made a decent profit.

There's actually no risk of losing money, despite what people here are saying - if you can't sell them for a profit, just return them to the store you bought them at and get a full refund.

Wow . . . that's pretty dishonest.


Do you buy a nice TV to watch the superbowl on with your friends and then return it after the game's over?

mrigney

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #9 on: December 10, 2013, 12:54:27 PM »
@GuitarStv I used to work at Best Buy. A lot of people do that, actually (return TVs after the Super Bowl). That's why there's a relatively large restocking fee on things like TVs these days.

I don't see any dishonesty in buying something and then returning it unopened/unused to the store. There's nothing implicit in buying something from the store that says you can't sell what you buy for profit.

arebelspy

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #10 on: December 10, 2013, 01:03:00 PM »
My boyfriend and I bought 3 PS4s and one XBox One to resell, and made a decent profit.

There's actually no risk of losing money, despite what people here are saying - if you can't sell them for a profit, just return them to the store you bought them at and get a full refund.

Wow . . . that's pretty dishonest.


Do you buy a nice TV to watch the superbowl on with your friends and then return it after the game's over?

I don't see the dishonesty - they aren't opening and playing with them, but returning them still sealed.  The store can still sell it.

That's quite different than your TV example (which I do see the dishonesty in) - I just don't think your analogy holds.
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GuitarStv

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #11 on: December 10, 2013, 01:50:16 PM »
Hmmm . . . I'll have to think on this one for a bit.

Buying something with no intention of ever using it, and then taking advantage of return policies to cover your losses if you can't sell it still strikes me as something that's not entirely above board.  It costs the store to stock the merchandise and process the return.  It also costs the store sales that they would have otherwise made (but won't be able to because they're out of stock).  You're directly hurting the store by doing this . . . which seems wrong.

The only difference between my example with the TV and this is some opened packaging.

Insanity

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #12 on: December 10, 2013, 02:23:21 PM »
Hmmm . . . I'll have to think on this one for a bit.

Buying something with no intention of ever using it, and then taking advantage of return policies to cover your losses if you can't sell it still strikes me as something that's not entirely above board.  It costs the store to stock the merchandise and process the return.  It also costs the store sales that they would have otherwise made (but won't be able to because they're out of stock).  You're directly hurting the store by doing this . . . which seems wrong.

The only difference between my example with the TV and this is some opened packaging.

There is an assumption that the store is either (a) going to sale the unit or (b) is unable to sell the returned unit.  If the store does sell the returned unit, no sale was lost and the store still had the float from the original sale. So they weren't really hurt by it.  If they are unable to sell the unit, there's no guarantee they would have been able to sell it before.  There's also no guarantee that it wouldn't have been returned for some valid reason.  I liken this to the "pirates" of videos/games.  People claim that the manufactures/producers are losing money - that makes a couple of false pretenses - the main one being  the user would have bought the game to begin with.


arebelspy

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #13 on: December 10, 2013, 02:34:44 PM »
Buying something with no intention of ever using it, and then taking advantage of return policies to cover your losses if you can't sell it still strikes me as something that's not entirely above board.

What losses?

Think of it as slow-frequency trading.  ;)

You're providing liquidity to the market by purchasing it somewhere that has enough stock (your area) and sending it to somewhere where there presumably isn't enough stock (thus why the person in question has to go online and pay more for it).

It also costs the store sales that they would have otherwise made (but won't be able to because they're out of stock).

Huh?  They made the sale.. to you.

And if you return it, they will sell it to someone else.  Unless it's an item that will literally sit there and never sell, but that clearly isn't the case here.

The only difference between my example with the TV and this is some opened packaging.

And in that case, they can no longer sell it as new. In this case they can.  Totally different.

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Zikoris

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #14 on: December 10, 2013, 09:58:22 PM »
Stores have no problem selling ps4s, if we did end up returning them - those things are in crazy demand right now.

The store would actually come out ahead if we did return them, because the next person who bought the system would probably buy some games as well($50+ per game is common), which obviously scalpers aren't interested in. They would make MORE MONEY if we returned systems than if we kept them and resold them.

totoro

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #15 on: December 10, 2013, 10:03:59 PM »
I think you'll make money. I was looking for one today and there are none available in stores where I live. They are listed on cl for 650.

arebelspy

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #16 on: December 10, 2013, 10:07:41 PM »
Stores have no problem selling ps4s, if we did end up returning them - those things are in crazy demand right now.

The store would actually come out ahead if we did return them, because the next person who bought the system would probably buy some games as well($50+ per game is common), which obviously scalpers aren't interested in. They would make MORE MONEY if we returned systems than if we kept them and resold them.

Not sure you're helping your case by pointing out that the store is making less money by selling it to you...  ;)

Either way, I don't think it's unethical.  I also don't think it's much better than a mediocre way to make money, but like I said, it's good for a broke college student or someone with a debt emergency.
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GuitarStv

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #17 on: December 11, 2013, 05:45:19 AM »
Hmmm . . . I'll have to think on this one for a bit.

Buying something with no intention of ever using it, and then taking advantage of return policies to cover your losses if you can't sell it still strikes me as something that's not entirely above board.  It costs the store to stock the merchandise and process the return.  It also costs the store sales that they would have otherwise made (but won't be able to because they're out of stock).  You're directly hurting the store by doing this . . . which seems wrong.

The only difference between my example with the TV and this is some opened packaging.

There is an assumption that the store is either (a) going to sale the unit or (b) is unable to sell the returned unit.  If the store does sell the returned unit, no sale was lost and the store still had the float from the original sale. So they weren't really hurt by it.  If they are unable to sell the unit, there's no guarantee they would have been able to sell it before.

I'd assume that if you're selling the unit for more than retail that there's enough demand that the store would sell the item easily.  Actually, that's an assumption that you pretty much have to make if you're expecting to resell at a higher price.  Most electronics stores will ship items from store branch to store branch, so it's not like you're breaking into untapped markets either.  You're taking advantage of stock shortages after helping to create them, so you're depriving the store of a sale (if you return the item), or you're depriving the buyer of the ability to purchase the item at a store (if you make your sale).  Either way you're having a net negative impact on the world.  Just seems like a kinda dickish way to make a couple bucks.


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There's also no guarantee that it wouldn't have been returned for some valid reason. 

I like that fact that you admit that the return in question is not a valid return.  I agree that any purchase carries with it some risk of return.  I like to think of this as an honour system . . . kinda like the take a penny, leave a penny jar.  Sure, you could walk up and empty the jar every time you go by . . . but that's not really morally defensible action.  It's abuse . . . just like buying a TV for the superbowl and then returning it, or buying a video game system with the intention of reselling it and then returning it.


Quote
I liken this to the "pirates" of videos/games.  People claim that the manufactures/producers are losing money - that makes a couple of false pretenses - the main one being  the user would have bought the game to begin with.

It's quite possible that every person who downloads software illegally would otherwise find different ways to entertain themselves, and the software companies would never make any money from them to begin with.  I don't believe that it's unreasonable to assume that many people who want to play video games illegally download them and play them rather than buy them from the store though.  The fact of the matter is - we don't know what would happen if these people were to behave ethically because they're not doing so.


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Huh?  They made the sale.. to you.

And if you return it, they will sell it to someone else.  Unless it's an item that will literally sit there and never sell, but that

As you know, timing is important with regards to this kind of thing (otherwise nobody would buy the higher than store price item).  Keeping stock on shelves costs money.  Processing a return costs money.  Re-ordering sold out stock costs money.  Especially with electronics, prices change quickly.  A TV being sold just before Christmas is worth more to a store than a TV being sold in February because it can be sold for more.  An item returned after Christmas will sit on the shelves for longer, and sell more slowly.  That all costs the store in overhead.

I can maybe justify some kind of acceptability for scalping people for playstations (as those people could always wait a while, nobody has a gun to the head), but returning an unsuccessful scalping run smacks of dickishness any way you look at it.
« Last Edit: December 11, 2013, 05:58:30 AM by GuitarStv »

Insanity

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Re: reselling ps4
« Reply #18 on: December 11, 2013, 08:14:05 AM »

I'd assume that if you're selling the unit for more than retail that there's enough demand that the store would sell the item easily.  Actually, that's an assumption that you pretty much have to make if you're expecting to resell at a higher price.  Most electronics stores will ship items from store branch to store branch, so it's not like you're breaking into untapped markets either.  You're taking advantage of stock shortages after helping to create them, so you're depriving the store of a sale (if you return the item), or you're depriving the buyer of the ability to purchase the item at a store (if you make your sale).  Either way you're having a net negative impact on the world.  Just seems like a kinda dickish way to make a couple bucks.

I'm not sure I see the "negative impact".  People have the choice to buy at the higher price.  If no one did, then this wouldn't be an issue.  And as noted, the store has received funds and is operating with the float of profit.  They are getting something from that sale.


I like that fact that you admit that the return in question is not a valid return.  I agree that any purchase carries with it some risk of return.  I like to think of this as an honour system . . . kinda like the take a penny, leave a penny jar.  Sure, you could walk up and empty the jar every time you go by . . . but that's not really morally defensible action.  It's abuse . . . just like buying a TV for the superbowl and then returning it, or buying a video game system with the intention of reselling it and then returning it.

That should have read "other valid reason".  There is a complete different rules between opening a product and returning and returning a sealed product.  I have bought many products where I wasn't sure if it would be the right one or if I would need all of them.  Is that morally corrupt as well? Or what if I buy a product and don't realize it doesn't support an input that I need and in order to use the device I need to buy more equipment I don't want? The store doesn't care nor know the reason. It is unopened.

It's quite possible that every person who downloads software illegally would otherwise find different ways to entertain themselves, and the software companies would never make any money from them to begin with.  I don't believe that it's unreasonable to assume that many people who want to play video games illegally download them and play them rather than buy them from the store though.  The fact of the matter is - we don't know what would happen if these people were to behave ethically because they're not doing so.

I can tell you that the vast majority do it because they don't want to risk losing the money.  And most of them will buy the game after they have copied it anyway. 


As you know, timing is important with regards to this kind of thing (otherwise nobody would buy the higher than store price item).  Keeping stock on shelves costs money.  Processing a return costs money.  Re-ordering sold out stock costs money.  Especially with electronics, prices change quickly.  A TV being sold just before Christmas is worth more to a store than a TV being sold in February because it can be sold for more.  An item returned after Christmas will sit on the shelves for longer, and sell more slowly.  That all costs the store in overhead.

I can maybe justify some kind of acceptability for scalping people for playstations (as those people could always wait a while, nobody has a gun to the head), but returning an unsuccessful scalping run smacks of dickishness any way you look at it.

Scalpers are only successful because the MARKET is willing to pay the price.  If the market wasn't willing to pay the price, scalpers wouldn't be successful.  Why? Because we are a consumer driven society right now.  As long as society is that way, why shouldn't consumers be able to take advantage of it and not just the stores and manufacturers?